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Regulating Compliance Control
Lead UX Designer
Systems Thinking
INTRODUCTION
Overview
As users move through online banking, they sometimes need to leave the experience to check a credit score, explore rates, or access trusted tools.
Each time they do, they’re interrupted by the same disclosure prompt. While necessary, the experience quickly becomes repetitive and frustrating especially when users are navigating to familiar or trusted destinations.
What started as a safety measure began to
feel like friction. Users were slowed down, the experience felt fragmented, and important tasks took longer than they should.
WHAT THIS TOUCHED
Scope
End-UX, admin controls, compliance workflows
WHAT BOXED THE TEAM IN
Constraints
Strict regulatory language and legal disclosure requirements
HOW SUCCESS IS DEFINED
Success Criteria
Maintain compliance while improving flow and usability
IDENTIFYING PERSONAS
Who I'm Designing For
Based on our initial user ideation exercise, we developed this persona to ground our decisions in empathy. Giving our user a name, face, and story helps us design with purpose — because it’s easier to solve for real needs when you can picture who you’re solving for.
Goals 🎯
-Keep tools easy for members
-Reduce operational friction
-Maintain compliant configurations
Bio 🧬
Banking administrator managing digital operations, member experience, and compliance needs.
“If it’s easy for me to manage, then it’s easier for our members to use.”
Zara Desai
DIGITAL BANKING ADMIN
27
Queens, NY
Motivations 💪🏽
Simple, trustworthy systems that are easy to implement and maintain.
Fustrations 😤
Processes that slow down productivity
Too many steps to complete simple tasks
CURRENT EXPERIENCE
Friction in Action
The issue wasn’t the disclosure itself… it was when and where it appeared.
What we observed from usabilty testing
-Users paused or backed out when the notice appeared.
-Trusted partner links felt unexpectedly blocked.
-Repeated prompts created hesitation over time.
Constraints
-Keep compliance intact
-Reduce unnecessary interruption
-Help users move forward with confidence
EARLY DISCOVERY
Direction Before Design
I grounded my design direction in research, product, and compliance inputs.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Before design began, Research surfaced a pattern of hesitation when users left the primary experience.
Users frequently exited external partner flows.
High page visits did not translate to continuation.
Testing revealed confusion around trust and insurance messaging.
PRODUCT OWNER & COMPLIANCE INPUT
Product and Compliance defined the boundaries Design needed to work within
FDIC disclosures were required to remain visible and explicit.
Language needed to align with regulatory guidance.
The experience needed to reduce confusion without removing safeguards.
DESIGN DIRECTION
With these inputs, Design focused on improving clarity without interrupting flow.
Reduce uncertainty at transition points.
Maintain trust while preserving compliance requirements.
Explore ways to support confidence before navigation.
DESIGN THINKING
Simplifying the message
Reduce friction by shortening and clarifying the disclosure copy.
COPY ADJUSTMENT
Maybe the warning feels alarming or confusing because of how it’s written?
Design partnered with Content Writing to explore simplified language.
Generated multiple variations focused on clarity and tone.
Evaluated how wording influenced perceived risk and trust.
WHAT WE DID
Copy changes alone would not meaningfully reduce friction.
Required wording limited how much the message could change.
Friction came from interruption timing, not message length.
WHAT WE LEARNED
You are about to visit an external website that may not be FDIC insured. Do you wish to continue?
DESIGN PIVOT
Putting Control Back Where it Belongs
Instead of interrupting every exit, control shifted to the admin experience.
REDIRECTION FROM PRODUCT OWNER
We learned disclosures weren’t required for every destination, allowing admins to define trusted sites where interruptions weren’t necessary.
Introduced a dedicated section within Admin → Compliance
Allowed admins to define trusted partner domains
Applied disclosures only where risk actually exists
DESIGN MOVE
Reduces unnecessary interruptions
Preserves required disclosures
Matches real-world trust relationships
WHAT WE LEARNED
SYSTEMS THINKING
Adding Control
A new section was added here to give admins a place to manage trusted destinations.
SYSTEMS THINKING
Building the Configuration Experience
This side sheet introduced a place where admins could create and manage a whitelist of trusted sites. Here, admins could add or remove sites that should not trigger the disclosure, giving them control over when the interruption appeared.
WORKING CROSS-FUNCTIONALLY
Steakholder input & Refinement
Each stakeholder brought a valid constraint. The challenge was balancing compliance, system logic, and usability without introducing new friction.
TOBY ADEYEMI
Porduct Owner
Suggested that disclosures don’t need to appear every time a user leaves, but admins still needed clear context on why they exist. We need links back to FDIC guidance so admins could understand the requirement.
JARED THOMPSON
UX Developer
Explained that “sites” wouldn’t work for the logic and that inputs needed to be structured as domains for the system to match correctly.
MAI NGUYEN
Content Writer
Works closely with legal to ensure the language can stay compliant while moving away from terms like “whitelist” toward clearer, more inclusive wording.
IMPLIMENTING FEEDBACK
Shipping Solutions
The final design let admins manage trusted destinations while still meeting compliance requirements
1. Domain Input
-Supports system logic and matching
-Reflects engineering constraints
-Shows collaboration without saying it
2. Domain Exceptions
-Moves away from whitelist/blacklist
-Clearer and more inclusive language
-Aligned with content + legal guidance
3. Dont / Do Guidance
-Moves away from whitelist/blacklist
-Clearer and more inclusive language
-Aligned with content + legal guidance
3. Help Icon / FDIC Links
-Links to FDIC guidance
-Explains why disclosures exist
-Allows admins to make informed decisions
END-TO-END EXPERIENCE
Final Solution
The final experience allows admins to manage trusted domains while keeping required disclosures in place, reducing unnecessary interruptions without changing compliance behavior.
IMPACT
Results After Launch
Less confusion → fewer support touches → less time spent → lower operational cost → higher profitability
HOW OUR USERS BENEFITED
User Impact
Admins completed setup faster and with more confidence (supported by usability testing observations).
Completed navigation to partner sites increased by ~18%, based on reduced drop-off in telemetry data.
Reduced confusion reported through support feedback.
HOW THE PRODUCT IMPROVED
Product Impact
The product became more flexible by giving admins control over which trusted sites trigger the disclosure.
Fewer unnecessary interruptions made the experience feel more consistent and intentional.
What started as a one-off compliance rule became a configurable system that works across different institutions.
HOW OUR BUSINESS WINS
Business Impact
Fewer support tickets reduced operational support time and cost.
Admin configuration became a “demoable” feature, strengthening product differentiation in sales conversations.
Improved partner engagement increased successful downstream transactions, contributing to revenue growth opportunities.
REFLERCTION
Role Breakdown
I’m proud of how this work turned a small compliance requirement into a clearer, more thoughtful experience for our admins.
What Challenged Me
Finding the balance between what compliance required and what actually felt natural for users.
Working through different opinions and figuring out where the real problem lived.
Making sure the solution reduced friction without removing necessary guardrails.
What I Enjoyed
Taking something small and improving the experience around it.
Working closely with other teams and seeing the solution get stronger because of it.
Designing something that made the product easier to use without adding complexity.
What I'd Do Differently
Bring engineering into the conversation a little earlier.
Spend more time upfront validating assumptions before moving into design.
Start measuring impact sooner so we could see results faster.
Curious About The Work?
If you have questions, thoughts, or feedback — or just want to talk shop — feel free to reach out. I’d love to hear from you.
You can fill out the contact form here, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
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